Fundraiser for relatives of El-Khawwas family who drowned hits £20,000 target
Husam El-Khawwas and Zeina Alayn died trying to rescue their daughters. Palestine Forum in Britain said the swell of donations was ‘humbling’
A crowdfunder for the relatives of a British-Palestinian family who drowned on the south coast of England in August has successfully raised more than £27,000 following an “outpouring of solidarity” from the public.
Husam El-Khawwas, 55, and Zeina Alayn, 37, died on 18 August after their daughters got into difficulty in the sea near Shoreham. Sara El-Khawwas, 14, died at the scene and Saja El-Khawwas, six, was pulled from the sea by emergency crews but died in hospital three days later.
“The Palestinian community in Britain has been deeply shocked and devastated by this tragic loss,” said Adnan Hmidan, chair of the Palestine Forum in Britain, who set up the fundraiser. “The El-Khawas family were well known and loved within their community and the news has affected everyone profoundly.”
The family, who are of Palestinian origin, came to Britain from the Rashidieh refugee camp, one of the largest and oldest in Lebanon, said Hmidan. Some of the funds raised through the GoFundMe page were used to repatriate their bodies, where they were buried on Friday following a funeral prayer held at the camp’s mosque attended by family members.
“Although the deceased were British citizens, their relatives are unable to travel to Britain because of visa restrictions,” Hmidan told Hyphen. “At such a difficult and heartbreaking time for the family, it has been truly humbling to witness the compassion and humanity shown by so many people.”
The fundraiser will also support the family’s surviving children.
In a statement released by Sara’s school, the Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls in west London, she was remembered as a “sweet girl, well-liked by staff and students”.
Sussex Police are investigating the incident but currently believe that the family’s deaths were a “tragic accident”. “Husam was a strong swimmer, as I understand it. However, the sea conditions were extremely difficult, with high and powerful waves,” said Hmidan.
This tragic event follows a spate of water-related deaths in England. They included those of Shelina Rahman, 42, and her daughter Sameeha, 15, who died on a beach near Colchester in late July while trying to rescue another family member, Musa Ahmed, seven, who died a week later.
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A study published in 2024 of almost 2,000 drowning deaths in the UK spanning eight years found that the risk of drowning increased by 7% for every 1C rise in daily maximum temperature. Research from the National Child Morality Database has also shown that children in England from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities were three and a half times more likely to drown than their white counterparts.
Asked in August if the government needed to do more to tackle water safety following the death of the El-Khawwas family, prime minister Andy Burnham said: “Always.” The national water safety charity, Royal Life Saving Society UK, has urged Burnham to appoint a minister for water safety.
